


A Series of True Falsehoods

by orphan_account



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, F/M, M/M, this is a gross fic im sorry it's rlly predictable, this is not a reikuri fic but it has reikuri content for the sake of the story so be warned
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-08
Updated: 2014-04-10
Packaged: 2018-01-18 16:37:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1435372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A NOTE: THIS WORK HAS BEEN DISCONTINUED. I WILL NOT BE UPDATING IT.</p><p>Reiner Braun, an employee of Titan Athletics, is forced to move from Denver to southern Colorado to fill in for a worker on leave. Leaving his entire life and his fiancé, Krista Lenz, behind, he is thrust into a small mountain community where everything is not as it seems--especially at the factory where he works. Between malfunctioning equipment, old video tapes, sketchy backstories, Krista's odd behavior and the strangely alluring tall, dark-haired man who keeps the factory records, Reiner struggles with what is right and wrong and the blurred lines between the two.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I should note that this is not a Raikuri fanfiction, if it's not completely obvious to the reader. However, it will have some Raikuri content scattered throughout the story, so if you really can't bear to read about any Raikuri, I would suggest that you stay away from this fic. I don't ship Raikuri so I apologize if you ship it and find that those scenes are badly written. I'm trying my best!

“It’s only a few months. I’ll be back before you know it.” Reiner kissed Krista’s cheek and bent down to pick up his bag. As he stood up straight, the girl looked at him with sad eyes. “Are you sure you have to go?” She asked.

“For the fifteenth time, Krista, yes, I have to go. It’s not ideal, I know, but Levi needs someone to stand in for him while he’s injured and I doubt that Erwin will let me keep my job if I don’t go. Not to mention that--”

She interrupted him by placing one small hand over his mouth. “Ugh, I know!” She retorted, chuckling. “Get out of here, you dope, before I _make_ you stay home.”

Laughing, Reiner slid on his coat, kissed his fiancé on the lips one last time, and turned away, towards the train conductor. _Three months....._ The whistle sounded, and he clambered onto the train and towards his seat.

Later, as he held a shot of whiskey in his hand, he contemplated how his being away from home for three months might affect them both. He had his doubts, but Krista was a good girl. She would be faithful. Regularly, he would be forced to worry about his own values while away for so long. However, there weren’t that many females in the small town he was going to--or so he had been told. No whorehouses, either--he had checked _far_ in advance.

It was a small town in Southern Colorado. Only about five hundred people lived in Creede, making it the smallest town he had ever gone to for work. Frankly, he was surprised that the trains even got close to this town, it was so remote. Since he lived in Denver, he wasn’t actually that far and would have driven there in his car if it was an option. But the main road to the town was closed for maintenance, so train it was.

The factory that he would be working in was about a mile out of town, based on Google Maps. He hoped that he would be able to rent a car, but if not, he’d definitely have to buy one. There was absolutely no way he was going to walk to that factory every day. It wasn’t a big deal--he could afford it, what with his job. He was the equipment and procedures surveyor at Titan Athletics Denver. The factory he oversaw was not large, but factory standards, but he had a lot of power and credibility there. 

Now that Levi Rivaille, the Vice President for the branch in Creede, Colorado, was on leave with a broken arm, the president of the entire company, Erwin Smith, had asked Reiner to fill in for him. Even though Reiner was important to the company, Levi’s position was _more_ important, and refusal of this “opportunity” would undoubtably cost him his job.

Now, Reiner was on a train going to the middle of nowhere, leaving his fiancé and his entire life behind him. While shuffling around in his small leather suitcase for some documents related to the job, he smiled. Krista was a lovely girl. She was an accountant for the Reiss Clothing Company, and was as good in bed as she was at math. He didn’t normally like blondes, but hey: she was prettier than any brunette he had ever known.

For years, he had worried about finding a girl that his overbearing parents would approve of. Krista was just that: Modest, kind, smart, polite, selfless..... she was, to put it simply, the perfect woman. They were set to be married in four months, not even one month after he got back. It was cutting it a little close, to be certain. Still..... he had faith that everything would work out, in the end. He and Krista would be happy. They would be very happy.

After a few minutes, he fell asleep and dreamed of a screaming girl and a man without name of face. Even after he had woken, the girl screamed and thrashed in his mind for hours on end.


	2. Doorjams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is long, oops. Lots of characters introductions and setting of settings. It will get more interesting soon, I swear.

Hours later, Reiner Braun stepped off of the train. He took a deep breath, expecting to inhale the fresh, clean air of the mountains. Instead, he found himself coughing and choking on cigarette smoke. After recovering from the initial surprise, Reiner looked in the direction of the smoke. There, he found a small, dark-haired man with sling on his arm and a smirk on his face. Brows furrowed, he threw his cigarette on the ground and proceeded to stomp on it, all while maintaining direct eye contact with Reiner Then, he swung his working arm forward. Reiner, stunned, remained silent. 

The man twisted his head slightly to the right and furrowed his brows even more. “You’re supposed to shake it,” he said, slowly, wiggling the fingers on his hand. “And I thought you city folk were supposed to be polite.”

“Sorry,” Reiner interjected, launching his hand into the man’s and making his small body rock a little bit. “You must be Levi.” 

“Ackerman, if you please,” the man muttered, pulling his hand free. “‘Levi’ is a might too informal for a city-dwelling shitstain like you.” He looked Reiner directly in the eyes once more. 

Reiner started and was about to say something about Ackerman’s coarse language, but the short man brushed past him and picked up a bag that Reiner somehow hadn’t noticed while exiting the train.

“Well, that’ll be the end of our interaction. Later, Rayner, and good luck--not that you’ll have any.” Reiner ringed at the mispronunciation of his name, and the man swung into the waiting train care with an amount of grace and agility unbefitting of a man with a broken arm. Not five seconds later, the doors to the train closed and it started to move off into the distance.

“H-hey!” He called, for no particular purpose except to let himself have the last word. The train chugged away, and he stared as it passed. Soon, it was far away, and he was left standing on a nearly empty platform.

“Hey, there!” A cheery voice called from the distance, and Reiner’s head snapped to the right to look for the source. It was a middle-aged person (man? woman? neither? he couldn’t tell) with brown hair in a ponytail and rectangular glasses, and they were waving at him. “You must be the new supervisor!” They called again. 

“Yeah,” Reiner replied, trotting to meet them. He extended his arm for a handshake, not intending to make the same mistake that he has made with Levi a few minutes ago. “I’m Reiner Braun.”

The person grinned and refused his hand. “We don’t have that kind of formality here at the Creede branch. I’m Zoe Hange, district manager. They/them pronouns, if you please.”

_Neither, then._ Reiner shrugged and lowered his hand. Before he could open his mouth, Hange began to speak again.

“That was Levi. The guy you just met, I mean. Don’t mind him--he just doesn’t get along with anybody very well, honestly.”

Reiner smirked and raised his eyebrows. “Yeah, I noticed. Why’s he have such a stick up his ass?”

Hange sighed. “No one really knows for sure,” they replied, “There’s a rumor going around about his old crew but, well..... I guess that’s a story for another time. Let’s get you settled in and I can tell you all about the procedures at our facility.”

Then, they grabbed Reiner’s bag from his hand and beckoned for him to follow as they walked towards a small parking lot. Once they got there, Hange strode over to a dusty, rusty old pickup with the back bumper askew.

“Uh,” Reiner began, “Is that thing road-safe?”

Hange just chuckled and unlocked the car manually after heaving the suitcase into the back with a little more force than Reiner was comfortable with being directed at his belongings. “The roads aren’t even legal, so why should the cars be?” Hange finally answered after Reiner had cautiously clambered into the car. In response, Reiner grabbed the handle above the door and clung on for dear life until the factory came into view.

*****

It was a rather ominous factory. The road to it was only paved in some placed, and it looked ancient and castle-like, reminding him of some sort of prison.

“Well, here’s where the magic happens!” Hange, explained, turning off the engine. Cautiously, Reiner stepped out of the car and onto the dirt, frowning slightly. As he grabbed his bag out of the back, he engaged in conversation with Hange. 

“I knew this was a small town, but I didn’t know that it was, er, under-maintenanced.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t exactly call it that. Overall, it’s fairly decent, but there are definitely some rough spots. I’m afraid that the area around our facility is one of those areas, but I’m hoping that if we can increase our production and shipping rates, Erwin will send us some funds for repair of the roads and some areas inside of the facility.”

Reiner’s eyes opened a bit and his expression turned darker. “Wait, there are some dysfunctional areas in the factory? Not in the equipment, I hope.”

Hange grinned, but something about their expression was strange. “No, of course not. Just some cold water in one of the lavatory sinks, broken concrete, etcetera. Minor stuff.”

Remaining silent, Reiner pursed his lips a bit and looked at Hange. Looking uncomfortable, they continued. “Well, don’t worry. As I was saying, the main town and housing area are much better. The upper management just doesn’t give us enough funding right now, but it will get better. The equipment is A-OK, though, I promise you.”

“We’ll see about that.” Reiner was skeptical, for various reasons. A lot of thoughts were swirling around in his head right now, but he figured that the most important thing was getting settled in to his new life for the next three months. After that, he could worry about his doubts regarding the machinery (which were probably stupid and paranoid, anyway). “Want to show me the inside of the facility?”

“Right to the point, then.” Hange smiled and their eyes brightened. “I like that in my employees.” They strode away from Reiner, expecting him to follow. He did, after a slight pause.

When he caught up with Hange, they were struggling to open a heavy sliding door. “The door jams when it’s closed all the way. I’ve told the staff multiple times that it needs to be left open, but they keep closing it, anyway.” They let out an exasperated sigh. “I bet it’s Springer who’s doing it--he sees to think it’s funny.”

Pressing his lips into a tight line, Reiner stepped forward and motioned for Hange to move away from the door. They did, and he grabbed the handle with both hands, wrenching it open. Hange grinned and patted him on the back.

“That’s some serious muscle you’ve got there,” they remarked.

Reiner squinted into the handle mechanism. “The attachment is bent, the one that keeps it open and allows it to be opened. No one has been closing it on purpose--it’s been sliding closed.”

He glanced back at Hange, who was looking impressed. “Can it be fixed?” They inquired.

“M-hm, yeah. I can fix it myself if you get me a hammer and a long screwdriver.”

“Does it need to be fixed right now?”

“I’d recommend it. It could slide closed on someone and cause some serious injuries.”

Hange nodded. “Alright, I’ll go grab you some tools right now--you just hang tight for a moment, ‘kay?” 

Nodding, Reiner sat back on his ass and rubbed his face. He was completely wiped from that long train ride--not to mention that he had had to wake up at 4am that morning. _Jesus,_ he thought, opening his eyes and lazily glancing at the door in front of him, _this isn’t going well very far. I’m at least glad that I won’t have to deal with that Levi guy while working here._

He could hear Hange inside, banging around in drawers and cursing under their breath. What with the racket they were making, it seems that they weren’t going to find the tools he needed any time. _Who doesn’t have a basic hammer and screwdriver?_ He thought to himself, but pushed the thought away. This facility seemed flawed enough that it didn’t surprise him. What had even broken the attachment?

He scooted over to the door and wedged his foot next to the sliding door so that it wouldn’t close on him. Then, he got out his keys and shone the tiny flashlight hanging from them into the inner workings of the handle. It was hard to make it out, but it became quickly apparent that there was something inside of the machinery that didn’t belong. 

“What, is someone sticking their trash in here?” He asked of no one in particular, cautiously reaching into the space. It was something plastic, jammed into the space between the two mechanisms that click together to make the door stay open or closed. Reiner cursed his stubby fingers, as he was unable to reach the item. 

“Crap,” he muttered and felt a hand on his shoulder, making him jump.

“What is it? Are you alright?” Hange asked, having appeared out of nowhere. Keeping his foot in place next to the door, Reiner removed his fingers from the hole and turned his head to the side to look at Hange. 

“Yeah, I’m fine, but there’s something wedged in here that I think might be the problem. Could you hand me the screwdriver?”

Hange complied, and he stuck the long metal rod into the back of the gap, wedging it to the side of the item. With a little pressure and a pop, it fell out into his other hand. It was just a small plastic box, but it seemed to have a lens on it, like a camera. But before he could study it in more detail, Hange snatched it out of his hands. Shifting their glasses with one finger, they studied the object for a moment and then quickly pocketed it. 

“What is that?” Reiner questioned, curious and a little annoyed that Hange had just taken it from him. 

Hange sighed and helped Reiner to his feet. “Oh, it’s nothing, just an old security camera. One of the boys must have shoved it in there as an April Fool’s prank or something and then forgotten about it. It’s no biggie.”

“It is a ‘biggie’ if someone could have gotten hurt by the malfunctioning door,” Reiner interjected, furrowing his eyebrows slightly. Hange nodded slightly and started walking away, beckoning for him to follow, obviously not intending to verbally respond to his comment.

Grumpily, he followed, grabbing his suitcase from the ground next to the door. “Come on, Braun,” Hange called from a few yards, “We’ve got no time to lose! I’ve got to introduce you to everyone.” 

_Are they already moving past what just happened?_ Reiner asked himself, even though he knew that the answer was a solemn, forced “yes.” The way they had skipped over the entire topic was kind of strange and mechanical, to be honest. But, as he reminded himself, he didn’t really know them very well yet..... and he should judge, right? Right?

At that moment, someone bumped into him and knocked the breath out of him. “Oh, geez, I’m really sorry!” Upon looking, er, down, he saw a man (boy? he looked like he was still in high school) with medium length Blonde hair and a worried expression. “Are you alright?” The boy asked, again.

Hange hurried back to the two of them. “Oh, dear. I see you’ve met Armin, one of our best and brightest. Is everything okay?”

After taking a deep breath to recover, Reiner replied. “ Ha, yeah, I’m fine. Mr. Arlert just gave me a start is all.” He looked down at the boy, who was now seeming older than he had looked before, now that he was smiling. Just how old was this dude? 

Chuckling, Hange punched Armin’s shoulder. As they turned away, they didn’t seem to notice the boy wobbling and muttering, “Ow” as a result of Hange’s ‘playfulness.’ 

Reiner wanted to say something more to him, but he had to keep up with his strange guide, so he just grimaced at the boy in a way that he hoped seemed sympathetic and moved on. 

Up ahead was a darkened stairwell with slightly slanted stairs, which Hange proceed to climb. An expression of distaste pasting itself onto his face, Reiner followed. They exited on the next level, into a room filled with desks that looked like they had been bought from a bunch of different yard sales and three outdated Macintosh computers. 

There were four people in the room. A girl with brownish-red hair in a ponytail was sitting on one of the desks. Next to her, a boy with very little hair and a somewhat short stature had one leg up on a chair. Next to them were two more boys, one of which was slightly shorter than the other and had brown hair, and one of which was taller and had blonde hair with darker hair underneath. The two of them kept glancing at each other and glaring, even while laughing with the group. 

After a few seconds, Hange snuck in behind the group and placed their hands on the chair underneath Connie’s leg. _Oh, hell no,_ Reiner thought, realizing their intent. Before he could say anything to the poor boy, Hange pulled the chair out from underneath his foot. He came crashed down onto the desk, just barely escaping hitting his head.

“Ow, what the hell?!” He exclaimed from the ground, looking around for his assailant. Soon, Hange’s face popped up over his, grinning and looking a little too pleased with themself. 

“Shouldn’t you four be cataloguing the new brand designs that we received from Erwin?” They said, still with a cheery tone. Silence ensued for a moment. “And,” they continued, snatching a bag of chips out of the brown-haired girl’s hands, “You are well aware of our policy against eating in the workplace, Sasha.” 

Pouting in resignation, the four of them moved off to their separate stations. The girl and the boy with short hair had separate computers, while the two taller boys shared one. It seemed like a bad decision to Reiner, logistically, since the two boys couldn’t stop fighting over who got to control the mouse or the keyboard, but Hange could do whatever they thought was best, and he wasn’t about to interfere, especially not as a new employee.

“Sorry about that,” Hange said, returning to the doorway where Reiner was standing. “These slackers won’t get anything done unless I keep a close eye on them. Which, believe me, I do.” They chuckled, and Reiner forced a laugh. At this point, he was really uncomfortable and just wanted to either get to work or get to his apartment, but Hange continued. 

“The boy with the short hair that I just knocked onto the ground is Connie Springer. He’s a bit of a jokester, which I would usually appreciate, but it gets to be a little much at times and he’s known for slacking a bit when he feels a job isn’t entirely necessary.”

Reiner nodded and looked at his watch, but Hange was on a roll, now. “The girl is Sasha Braus. She can be a good worker, but she is prone to get distracted whenever she’s around Connie. The two boys who look like they want to rip each other’s throats out are Eren and Jean. I’m making them work together on this in the hopes that they’ll solve their differences and stop creating such a fuss in the workplace, but, as you can see, nothing seems to have changed.”

Sighing and shaking their head fondly, Hange turned around and they continued down the hallway to a room a few doors down. The walls of the hallway had yellow-ish, peeling wallpaper, and Reiner wondered when he’d be able to see some actual factory equipment. This entire day was just making him feel really confused and more than a little irritable. He hoped that he would have decent wifi wherever he was staying so that he could Skype Krista.

They entered into a room with a bunch of older employees, closer to Hange’s age. Reiner knew that he was the youngest one in the room, and it made him feel even more on edge.

“Hey, Mikey!” Hange called out to a Blonde man sitting on the couch with his arms crossed over his chest. The man turned his head towards them, looking disinterested. Hange continued, either not noticing or not caring about his expression. “This is Reiner, our new surveyor! He fixed our sliding door. Can you believe that?”

The man (Mike?) nodded and glanced at Reiner, then went back to looking into the distance. Suddenly, Reiner felt a small hand slap him on the back, surprising him. “That’s great! Getting right to work, huh?” A woman’s voice called, and soon a blonde lady came into view. She had a short haircut and defined cheekbones, giving her an aura that said “I may seem silly, but you had better take me seriously.”

Hange grinned. “Reiner, this is Nanaba. She’s the head of the crew that does the soles for the shoes.”

“Nice to meet you,” Reiner added, smearing a fake smile onto his face. Nanaba smiled back and strode into the room, only to stop at a table on the other side. Then she turned to stare at Mike.

“Why is there no coffee?!” She exclaimed, her eyes turning slightly dark. Mike, showing emotion for the first time in the last three or four minutes, held his hands up in defense.

“Hey, hey,” he replied. “That Eren Jaeger kid forgot to get more coffee beans, not my fault. Don’t worry, we sent Fubar to grab some from the shop in town.” 

Upon hearing this, Nanaba noticeably relaxed, but her lips were still pursed. Reiner was just getting annoyed about all of this, by now. He leaned over to Hange.

“Hey, is there any chance that someone could take me to wherever I’m expected to be living, down in town? I’m pretty tired so I th--”

He was cut off by Hange’s voice exclaiming, “You’re here!” Someone carefully pushed past Reiner and into the room. The man who walked in was very tall. Not that much taller than Reiner, really, but his height was still formidable, and he wasn’t the kind of person he had been expecting to walk in at that moment. Carefully, the man put down two cardboard trays of coffee cups and turned around. He was skinny, but not drastically so, and he had hair that was a dark shade of brown that Reiner didn’t think he had ever seen before. 

Nanaba didn’t hesitate in grabbing one of the cups, and the others soon followed. “Want one, Reiner?” Hange offered.

“No, but thank you,” he replied, looking at his watch once more. It felt like he’d been stalling around this factory for hours, but it had only been about thirty minutes. “Hey,” he mentioned again, “Is there any way that someone could drive me to the apartment Erwin said that he had set up for me?”

A light lit up in Hange’s eyes. “Oops, sorry! You should have said something earlier.” 

_I did say something earlier,_ Reiner thought to himself in frustration, but stayed silent, biting his lip. Hange continued, apparently not needing confirmation from Reiner.

“Hey, Bertie!” They called out to the tall boy who was now leaning against a stained, peeling, yellow wall. Reiner saw him noticeably cringe, and he assumed that it was because of Hange’s nickname for him. 

“Yeah?” He replied, standing up straight and sauntering over to Hange. They grinned and turned to Reiner.

“Reiner, this is Bertholdt Fubar, our record keeper and coffee-fetcher. Bertl, this is Reiner Braun, the new surveyor while Levi is on leave.” Bertholdt held out his hand and Reiner shook it. The handshake lasted a little longer than necessary and this Fubar guy had really sweaty palms. _Gross,_ Reiner thought as he pulled his hand away.

“Nice to meet you,” Reiner muttered. How long would he be made to continue with this awkward conversation?   
“Anyway,” Hange continued, swiping a piece of Lint off of Bertholdt’s sweater with two fingers. They directed their gaze towards the tall man. “Could you drive Reiner to the apartment complex? He’s tired from his journey, and I’m sure that he would like to get settled in.”

Nodding, Bertholdt grabbed Hange’s keys from their extended hand and turned to Reiner. “Let’s go,” he spoke, sighing through his teeth, and stepped out of the doorway. Rolling his eyes, Reiner picked up his bag once more and followed the man down the hallway and back to the staircase. As they stepped down, he tried to engage Bertholdt in conversation.

“So, uh, how long have you been working for this company?” He asked, scratching the back of his neck.

“A while,” he replied, without turning to look at Reiner. “You?”

“I’m not sure. Six or seven years?” 

“Okay.” Bertholdt was obviously disinterested as they walked out of the doorway and back into the sparsely-paved parking lot.

After crossing the barren, empty lot, they both clambered back into the rusty pickup that he had arrived in. A strange, tangible silence ensued as Bertholdt started up the car. Reiner tried to roll down the window to occupy himself, but it wouldn’t budge and so he tried to turn on the radio. That didn’t work, either. Outside the window, trees passed and they came into the smaller downtown area. After a few minutes, Bertholdt pulled into a small parking lot outside of an unappealing gray building.

“Well, here it is,” he spoke, motioning for Reiner to get out of the car. The two of them clambered up the steps to the door and Bertholdt pulled a lanyard of keys out from under his shirt. He pulled one off of the chain and tossed it to Reiner. “Yours is number twelve. We’ll need you at the facility at 7am tomorrow morning. If you need a ride, just call me. I’m guessing that Hange will want me to pick you up, anyway.”

He handed Reiner a small, beat-up business card with a number scribbled on it in pen on the back. On the other side was Hange’s work number and the address of the factory. Then, he stepped away and back towards the truck, leaving Reiner standing on the steps. _I’ll have to ride with that guy every day? What a downer. I’ll have to get a bike to ride to the factory or something. Maybe there’s a used car place?_ He thought to himself as he opened the screen door to get into the building. 

His room wasn’t difficult to find, and he quickly slid the key into the lock. The apartment complex was nicer than the factory, but not by much. The walls of the main floor were covered in a tacky flower-themed wallpaper, and the lighting was uncomfortably dim. Inside of the apartment, however, it was much different.

“Woah,” he said aloud, seeing the inside. It wasn’t a big apartment, but it was very modern and immaculately cleaned. The walls were painted a brownish-grey shade, and the furniture all looked like it had been taken out of the house of a Wall Street worker. He set down his suitcase on a leather couch. He had been informed that he would be using Levi’s apartment during the duration of his stay, but he wasn’t expecting it to be this...... intact? clean? Honestly, he didn’t know what exactly he had expected it to be like, but definitely not something like this. 

After grabbing himself a glass of water from the small kitchen, he didn’t waste any time in finding the bedroom. The bed was of a moderate size, probably a queen. In any case, it was bigger and nicer than he had imagined that it would be. Stripping down to only his undershirt and his boxers, he clambered under the sheets. Despite his exhaustion, however, he didn’t fall asleep for quite a while, his mind going over all of the events of the day again and again.

What was on that tape on the video camera, and why had Hange snatched it away from him so quickly? What was the story behind Levi’s old crew, the one Hange had neglected to tell him? Why was the facility so run down, and was the equipment okay? These were all questions that he asked himself as the hours passed, until, finally, he drifted into a dreamless sleep. 

Tonight, no one screamed and thrashed in his dreams, and the faceless man did not appear.


End file.
